


New Rat In Town

by Oblivion_Wanderer



Category: Pacific Rim (Movies)
Genre: (they're pet rats but eh), AU, Gen, rat bbys being cute, rat!AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-11
Updated: 2014-09-11
Packaged: 2018-02-16 22:45:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,031
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2287190
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oblivion_Wanderer/pseuds/Oblivion_Wanderer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The humans brought another rat home; that was the basic summary of what Hermann could make out from their conversation.</p>
<p>(AU where Newt and Hermann are pet rats)</p>
            </blockquote>





	New Rat In Town

**Author's Note:**

> This one's for [Thorsies](http://thorsies.tumblr.com/), whose talk of rats made me do this.

The humans brought another rat home; that was the basic summary of what Hermann could make out from their conversation. From his cage he could see them looking into another, although he couldn't really see the rat, if it was a new rat they had gotten.

When the humans had finally stopped making a fuss about it, they brought the smaller cage they were holding over and opened the top of Hermann's cage. Just as he suspected they had bought another rat, which they transferred into Hermann's cage. The rat squeaked as it was set down, rolling around in the lining of the floor for a moment. Hermann wriggled his whiskers at the slight flailing.

The new rat rolled back over onto his feet and looked back up at the humans as they smiled, closed the top of the cage, and walked off to do whatever it is humans do. The newcomer quickly turned back around to Hermann, and he noticed that this rat was mostly brown and white, but had splotches of other colors as well that were among rats. That was a first, since Hermann had never seen a rat like that. He'd seen his own reflection once; mostly white with the exception of the fur on his head being brown.

The new rat squeaked again when he saw Hermann. “Hi!”

He looked at the other cautiously. “Hello... You are?”

“The humans call me Newton, but I like 'Newt' better. Who're you?”

“I'm Hermann. I'm assuming you are to be living here as well.”

“Yup.” Newt replied. “Kinda surprised to see another rat. How long have you been here?”

“A year or so. The humans adopted me, same as you.”

“Ah. Well then, it's a pleasure to meet you, Hermy!” Newt beamed.

Hermann's tail twitched. “Please don't call me that.”

 

* * *

 

The humans were kind enough to give them little pieces of bread and cheese for dinner. Hermann watched as Newt gobbled them down, running over to the little water dispenser on the side of the cage to get a drink. Hermann didn't feel need to allow himself to be distracted by Newt's erratic eating- the new rat was a tiny bit pudgy, but that didn't entirely explain it unless he tended to binge on food from time to time- and continued to nibble on his own meal.

He heard Newt scurry back over to him and he looked up.

“You gonna finish that?” Newt asked, cleaning his whiskers.

“Yes, I plan to. You had yours already.” He grumbled in response.

“Well... I just kinda noticed you weren't eating a lot- oh; are you okay?”

“Yes, I'm perfectly fine.”

“Can I ask you something then?”

“I suppose so.”

“You seem like you walk with a little bit of a limp on your back leg. Is something up with that or what?”

Hermann blinked, but looked away from Newt and down at the bottom of the cage, moving his tail to curl around him.

“I... injured my leg last year during a storm.” He explained. “I got lost and wandered for some time, in pain and without food, eventually passing out, most likely out of pain or hunger, but for how long I don't know. The next thing I remember, a human found me, helped me recover, and put me in one of those pet shops because they couldn't keep me. I was adopted by this family soon after; perhaps they took pity on me. However, my leg never healed properly.”

He felt Newt nudge his side then. He surprisingly didn't move away, only flinched- the touch was warm.

“That must've been awful...” The multi-furred rat muttered. “Does it hurt?”

“Not a lot.”

“Mm. Sorry to hear that. About the leg I mean.”

Hermann turned his head to look at Newt. “It's okay, Newton.”

“Mmph. It's 'Newt'.” He retorted before nudging Hermann with his nose. “Come on, now. Eat.”

“My eating habits are hardly of any concern-”

“Just a bit more.”

Hermann sighed, giving a bit of a happy squeak. “Alright.”

 

* * *

 

At night Hermann retreated to his cloths set off to one corner of the cage. When he was first adopted, the humans put them in because of his leg. They did help and were quite soft.

He was woken later by tiny sounds of squeaking and whimpering coming from where Newt lay nearby. Worried, Hermann left the comfort of his 'bed' and gave Newt a careful headbutt. “Newton, wake up.”

Newt squeaked louder this time and flailed in the floor lining again as he woke.

“Newton, are you okay?” The brown headed rat asked.

Newt's beady eyes looked at Hermann in the darkness, and then he lowered his head. “S'okay. I... just had a bad dream. Saw monsters and it got me spooked.”

Hermann felt bad for Newt at his explanation. For the first week or so with his new owners he had nightmares too. One of the humans seemed to understand and took him out a couple of times when they were in close proximity and had a nightmare. They'd gently cradle him until he felt calm. Hermann figured that Newt might just be nervous about being in a new place, but he did feel sorry for the other rat.

Perhaps that was why Hermann approached and gently licked the fur behind Newt's ear.

“Did you just lick me?” Newt asked, voice perking up a little.

“Maybe, but I'm trying to calm you. The humans aren't awake to help.”

“Oh. Uh... do it again, please...?”

Hermann sighed, but licked him again. “Come; there's somewhere more comfortable for you to rest.”

The older rat led Newt over to his little cloth nest and got him settled down in. He explained that it was mostly for his leg, but if Newt needed somewhere more comfortable to sleep until he adjusted to the new environment, he was willing to share. Usually Hermann might not do this, but he wanted to help Newt feel better.

Newt's whiskers twitched as he curled up against Hermann, mindful of his bad leg.

“This is nice...”

Hermann waited till the other fell asleep before closing his eyes as well.

“Rest, Newton. The monsters won't get you here.”


End file.
